Tribal Council Hopes Alcoa Honors Contract In Light of Closure Announcement

By Andy Gardner

St. Regis Mohawk Tribal leaders are hopeful that Alcoa will stand by their agreement with the state and New York Power Authority, despite last week’s announcement that Alcoa East will be closed and its potlines demolished. As many as 350 jobs are at risk.

“It is unfortunate to see a large employer reduce operations,” states Chief Ron LaFrance. “During this transition, our expectation is that Alcoa honors their agreement with NYPA and NYS to rebuild the Alcoa East plant with more efficient, less polluting technology.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that he expects Alcoa to make good on their contract that allows them 478 megawatts of low-cost hydropower in exchange for creating 900 jobs between the two Massena plants and spending $600 million to upgrade the facilities.

“The company is expected to honor the terms of its long-term power supply contract with NYPA,” the statement reads. “Involuntary layoffs at the Massena operation would be considered a breach.”

The statement came following a Thursday, Jan. 16 meeting in New York City between top officials with Cuomo’s office, NYPA and Alcoa.

“To be clear, we will hold Alcoa accountable to maintain the operation of the Massena West smelter and ensure the planned modernization of the Massena East facility proceeds without delay as required by the contract,” according to a statement from Cuomo’s office released Thursday.

But Alcoa is not saying how they plan to address the conflict. Christa Bowers, an Alcoa corporate spokesperson, did not address the issue when asked on Thursday evening by North Country Now via email. She only addressed the meeting between Alcoa, NYPA and the governor’s office.

“We appreciate the cooperation of the NYPA leadership and other stakeholders who share our commitment to the North Country. We will continue to work with our unions, state, local and other stakeholders to minimize the impact of these changes and ensure our continued competitiveness at Massena West,” she wrote.

Alcoa made the decision in light of $2.3 billion in losses last year.

“The decision was made because the potlines are no longer competitive,” reads a news release from Alcoa.

Following the closure announcement, Alcoa’s stock rose by 12.7 percent as of midday Tuesday, Jan. 21.

David Leclair, president of United Steelworkers Local 450 said it is too early to tell how many employees will be affected and in what way.

“Until these talks (between Alcoa, the state and New York Power Authority) are done, we don’t know how that number is going to move,” Leclair said. “It’s too early to tell until we know what comes out of these talks.”

“We have plans to work with our local unions to minimize the impact on jobs.  We will be discussing these issues with our unions,” Bowers said when asked via email.

The plant, which began operating in 1959 as Reynolds Metals, last shut down its potlines in 2009, but fired them back up in 2011. They closed one potline again in October of last year.

The east plant, according to Alcoa’s website, uses outdated Soderberg technology and would have been replaced by modern pre-bake potlines, which are used at the west plant.

“Because of the way the pre-bake pots operate, once the Modernization Project is complete the East Plant will see significant improvements in air quality and emissions, less waste generated in the aluminum-making process and a significant reduction in the amount of dust employees have to work around, creating safer, better working conditions,” the company’s website states.

The company announced last April that they were going to build a new potline at the east plant and spend $52 million on site work and support projects, in addition to $40 million already spent.

“The Massena Modernization Project (MMP) will represent a multi-million-dollar investment by Alcoa in our smelting operations and will secure the plant’s significant economic impact and hundreds of manufacturing jobs for several decades,” Alcoa writes on its website. “The project will also make Massena Operations more competitive in the global marketplace.”

Leclair said the worst-case scenario, an outright loss of 350 positions at Alcoa, would be a huge blow to the North Country.

“Overall, if you take 350 Alcoa jobs …it’s going to have a devastating effect on all the communities, especially the little mom-and-pop shops we have around here,” he said.